When China’s new property law was announced this spring, it was the ideological and political implications that drew the most commentary, both domestically and abroad. The implications on the ground for China’s multi-billion-dollar property industry were largely overlooked.

Undeniably, China’s property market has been in need of a clear legal framework since land use regulations were first reformed in the early 1980s. In recent years, the astronomical growth of China’s economy has resulted in a boom in real estate developments all across the country. These range from shopping malls for the masses to villa complexes for the newly super-rich. In this heady environment, massive sums of international capital have poured into China through investment funds run by big operators such as Deutsche Bank , Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley. [Full Text]